WINGS
by myawfod
Summary: AU-Mass accidental scientific experiment gone wrong a few generations back means that humans have developed wings that are closely linked with feelings and Annabeth is an abnormality, with the ability to fly from too early an age and whenever she's upright her feet won't touch the ground and her wings shifting hues with her feelings. Danger awaits, will wings be enough?
1. My Wall Gets Kicked Down

_'There's a light inside all of us_

 _It's never hiding you just have to light it_

 _It's the one thing that you got to trust_

 _It's like a diamond, you just have to find it_

 _So if you ever feel like giving up_

 _Yeah, let's remember that… we were all meant to fly_

 _Spread your wings, across the universe_

 _It's your time to, it's your time to shine_

 _There's a light inside all of us_

 _Soon, you'll find that it's your time to fly_

 _Your time to fly'_

~ 'Fly', Avril Lavigne

' _Humans have evolved throughout the ages, developing weird mutations, like extra height or weight, extra toes or fingers, or different eye, hair and skin colours. Just like that, years in the future, after a mass freak accident, humans have developed wings, linked with the feelings and experiences of the individual._

 _A child is born with no wings, but the bones stored at the very top of the skin on their back, forming an almost impenetrable barrier beneath the skin of a newborn. When the child shows the first sign of personality, the wings forming beneath the skin and breaking out, being of any shade and type, depending on the individual personality. These wings grow in at about age three, almost like teething. However, the wings are useless and have no muscle, and hang limp from the back._

 _The muscles develop over a week after the child makes it first friend, however, at this age, are very weak. The wings can now make small motions forward and backwards. They continue gathering muscle until the individual meets their best friend or soulmate, at which point one of the wings grows tremendously and acquires the ability to fly, if one has met both. If either of those people should die, the wings will slowly lose strength until they are purposeless and limp, constant reminders of what used to be.'_

That's what my grade six health textbook said about that anyway. It did NOT mention anything about malfunctions or disabilities, which it would have been nice if it would have. I closed the book and rolled over, staring at the ceiling. I barely winced as I felt my wings crack, and I rolled each one in turn to ease the pain, then laying spread-eagled on my bed, wings included, looking at the thousands of words I had written there over the past thirteen years. They were all adjectives, as big as I could find to describe my possible soulmate and best friend, from 'pompous' and 'well-rounded' to 'admirably tall' and 'caramel brown haired'.

I had these words written because I was an abnormality, never allowed to see more than my step-mother and father, and yet still my wings were fully developed and if upright almost constantly flying. I had no way to control it, hinder it or diminish it without damaging my wings. I played my game that I played every night before dinner, picking five words and putting together a mental picture of my soulmate or best friend, tonight was soulmate night.

"Albino, petite, pierced, rosy-cheeked, chronic liar," I conjured up an image of a pale boy, on the scrawny side, with watery red eyes, eyebrow, lip and nose piercings, with pale red cheeks. He wore black, with ripped jeans, scuffed black Vans, a black 'Guns 'n' Roses' t-shirt with a black leather vest over the top, leaning against a Harley Davidson motorbike, tooth pick in mouth and icy white windswept hair.

The image fizzled out as my step-mother knocked on my door, indicating it was dinner time. I rolled off my bed, wings automatically spreading out to catch the air and right me, moving the loose papers in my room as I hovered over to the door and opened it, flying out.

My parents didn't like abnormality, and almost always left me at home whenever they went out, leaving me pale and more often than not lonely. I fluttered down the stairs, toe tips touching the edge of each step before flitting to the next, counting the seventeen toe taps from my room to the kitchen and dining room. I moved to the island bench, grabbing my already full plate and migrating to the table, sitting down in my normal seat, my wings folding almost instantly. My step mother entered, along with my father, and we ate in the usual silence. I bade them goodnight, and they nodded simultaneously, as per normal, and I fluttered up the stairs, re-entering my room and picking another book to read until nine, at which all the lights turned off and I fell asleep.

My morning was as usual, eating a silent breakfast, having lessons from a tablet computer, lunch and dinner, then bed. In only a few days, my life was changed forever.

I woke up in the middle of the night, jumping up at another bang on my wall that faced outside. Another blast of sound, and I flew over to the corner of my room, high as I could go, trying to slow my currently coal-black wings, showing I was afraid. Another abnormal thing about me, is that my wings change colours according to how I'm feeling. Sometimes, if I concentrate really hard, I can change colour, but it drains me a lot so I normally don't.

I was jolted out of my thoughts by a slab of my wall _whoomph_ ing onto the floor, someone having done something to destroy my wall without 'destroying' my wall. My breathing went very irregular and my wings flapped even less than they were before as a figure emerged out of the wreckage, wings flapping majestically as the light of the moon outlined their silhouette. My breathing stopped as they stepped into my room, and green eyes passed over me, then the person must have done a double take because suddenly I was falling into an ocean, sea green and blue with flecks of grey, swimming and changing, enchanting my senses until I shook my head and came back to the current situation.

I could see it was a boy, with hair the same colour as my wings, and I studied the scrawny figure I realised my wings were changing hues and I was slowly fluttering to the floor, stopping a centimetre from touching it and hanging suspended.

"Hey, sorry about the wall. I'll get someone over here later to fix that, maybe Leo, or doesn't he do walls? Maybe Beck, oh, I wonder how he's gonna react when Silena finally gets back, ha, that's gonna be funny..." he trailed off, looking to the ceiling before turning back to face me. "Sorry, ADHD gets in the way sometimes. Look, you're different, so am I, there is a safe place for us if you just come with me." He said, looking me straight in my dull grey eyes.

"I-I need time, to think and-"

"No," he said sternly, cutting me off. "No time. Go or stay."

 **{AN: Hi guys, new story, please let me know if you want me to continue, and any ideas. ~myaw}**


	2. I Find a Safe Place

My breathing shallowed even more, and I forced myself to take three deep breaths, staring him in the eyes.

 _One, two, three_

"Okay," I concluded, looking to the door warily. "I'll go, but only if at any time if I feel unsafe, I can leave, and everyone is honest and tells me what is going on. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes," the boy breathed, staring fervidly at the door. "Now, if you could just fly slowly behind me, and on my count, flap the hell through the hole and wait at the lone tree." He said, slipping a pen out of his jeans pocket, before uncapping it. The pen transformed into a three foot sword, bronze, and my wings fluttered rather noisily in fright. I calmed down and hovered my way silently over to the hole, and the boy started counting on his fingers.

 _Three, two, one_

He swung at the door as my wings gave one tremendous flap boosting me through the hole and outside.

"Wow," I breathed, taking in the stars and moon, the dusty land reflecting the sheen of the night sky. The air was fresh, and I could feel the chill starting in my finger and wing tips, but I didn't care. This was the most alive I'd ever felt, free and wild and adventurous.

I suddenly remembered the raven haired boy and whipped back to see him fighting, using the sword against robot droids. My lungs full of new energy, I swooped to the floor, snatching up a branch and soaring back up to the hole, folding my wings so I fit and landing on my feet in the middle of battle, ducking as a robot swung a metallic arm at me and retaliating swiftly, hitting it as hard as I could near its base as it toppled and I flew above a robot that charged at me.

"What are you doing?!" the boy yelled, and he swiped at a robot about to get too close to comfort.

"Helping you!" I replied, flicking a robot with my stick

"I don't need help! You need to go and meet the others!" He said, taking two out with one swing.

"Not leaving without you!" I said, flapping higher as a taller droid went to take me out. "Can't we just go _without_ the dramatic fight scene?"

"Fair enough. On my count! One, two…. Three!" On three, we simultaneously flitted up and out, ducking any swinging arms.

We flew out into the night, soaring over the clouds as I trailed slightly behind him, trying to catch the words about flying and spaghetti (don't ask because I don't know).

"Okay, we're getting close now. Angle your head downwards slightly and let your body follow, and try not to crash." He advised, demonstrating. I shakily lowered my head and felt the wind pushing resistance, and I slowed as much as I could by spreading my red-peach wings, the pleasure of the moment coursing through my veins. I realised I was about to ram the guy, so I tilted my wings to avoid him, catching up to him. I was neck and neck, and slowly gaining as he turned and looked at me, eyes wide with surprise. I passed him quickly after and broke eye contact, looking down to find I was dangerously close to the ground. I tried flapping my wings but they couldn't move, the wind pressure was too much. I was only about five metres from the ground now, and I started panicking, flailing and screeching like a banshee, anything to try and slow me down.

Four metres, _three, two, one, impa-_

There was no pain, or really anything except a gentle bobbing. I slowly eased my eyes open to find my nose was hovering a mere centimetre from the ground. I realised the guy had grabbed my ankle at the last second, saving me from a possible death. I tried to look over my shoulder at him, but I had only moved my head slightly above my shoulders when my face met the ground and I rolled over, spitting out dirt and moving my hands to wipe my eyes.

"I'm so sorry. You okay?" he asked, holding out a hand which I accepted begrudgingly. "You're heavier than you look." He said casually, then obviously realising what he had said and looking at me with wide eyes.

"I said that out loud, didn't I?" I nodded in response, while he ran a rather tanned hand through his coal-black hair. "I'm an idiot, please ignore me,"

 _'Gladly'_ I replied in my mind, but on the outside I merely nodded, brushing the red dust off my shirt before looking around.

"So, where's this 'safe place'?"

"Well, believe it or not, up."

Naturally looked to the heavens, finding no sign of anything. Then again, what could I expect? A giant sign saying 'Safe Place for Different People Here! Free Lasagne on Thursdays!'

"Follow me, and try not to die this time." He said, though when I looked to see where we were going, he was fiddling with a small radio, looking very confused.

"Here," I said, holding out a hand. He placed the small device in my palm, and I began pushing buttons and muttering the occasional question.

"Security code?"

"Two-three-one-seven-seven-oh-seven." He recited without hesitation.

"Lollies? Really?" He shrugged in response, and I continued making my way through the ridiculously complicated security codes.

"Security question answers?"

"Turquoise,"

"Yep,"

"Seaweed Brain,"

"Uh huh,"

"' _We All Live in a Yellow Submarine.'"_

I merely raised an eyebrow as I typed it in, finally letting me into the device.

"Channel number?"

"Three hundred and seventy-two."

I turned the dial and there was a loud burst of static before some muttering, and then actual talking.

"Someone's in on line eight, hold up…This is….Bad Boy Supreme Super-Sized McShizzle, come in Per- I mean, Seaweed Brain. Geez, I love that name on you. Fits." A squeaky voice called, changing halfway through the sentence to a deep manly growl.

"Seaweed Brain to Mr. Constantly-changes-his-name, I swear we decided on Repair Boy? Anyway, I have the new initiate from eighty-two, or was it eighty-three? Anyway, rope please!" he spoke into the radio, and after a few seconds of clanking on Repair Boy's side there was a rope dangling down from the sky, and Seaweed Brain grasped it and started shimmying up it. I made a move towards the rope, but he looked down and shook his head.

"Nu-uh, you've got another ride. See you after?"

"Okay…" I said a little uncertainly, still marvelling at the fact I was outside my house. Finally, I felt free enough to adventure. The cryptic 'Seaweed Brain' had disappeared into the clouds, and the sky was lightening. It was close to dawn, we had been flying for hours, but my wings weren't at all tired or strained. I stood for a few more minutes before there was a whooshing sound above me, my hair slipping out of its ponytail and whipping around my head like crazy. I shaded my eyes from the first rays of sun and looked up, seeing metal glimmering back at me.

 _Metal?_

I was still trying to see what glinted at me when there was a piercing burst of static, and I fell to the ground, scuffing my pyjama pants and clutching at my ears. I heard footsteps and voices, and before my ears stopped ringing my head was covered in a bag and pulled tight, almost too tight to breathe. I started to try to undo the draw strings so I could have some oxygen, but to no avail. Someone's hand slapped away mine, and someone else said something about choking me, so they loosened the draw strings a little so I could breathe. A different set of hands gently lifted me up by my shoulders, and they must have been tall, because my wings were slowly calming down after flapping wildly when I couldn't breathe, were still out pretty far. If I could take a guess, my wings would be an almost black yellowy-green, which meant I was frightened or afraid and distrustful.

"Come on Jas-, I mean, Sparky, you have to be a little rougher, get them scared." A voice commanded, and I was shoved forward as to prove a point.

"Not too hard, she's almost died twice tonight already!" A husky voice said, and I was proud to recognize it as Seaweed Brain. Thanks, awesome memory condition.

"Everyone just needs to be quieter, please." A gentle female voice said, and they all shut up. There was someone walking right behind me, pretty big guy I assumed, because I could hear his foot falls and his breath was on the back of my neck, but from above. He occasionally pushed me in the small of my back in a different direction, but apart from that it was just me, the slowly rising sun, footsteps of the others and the number of footsteps rolling along in my head.

I had just passed three hundred and seventy when they stopped, leaving me to continue walking forward until I got a mouthful of feathers, light and poofy, and I backed up a small bit to the sound of amused laughter of the others.

Suddenly, the footsteps started to recede, one pair making its way close to me, taking the bag off my head and flapping away hurriedly. I blinked incessantly until I got used to the light, and I realised I was standing on the edge of a cliff, sun rising to my front. I spread my wings, basking in the light, letting it touch my wings in ways it hadn't before. I closed my eyes and leaned forward, and a gentle breeze picked up. I leaned into it, cherishing the feel of the wind rushing past them. I leaned backwards after the wind started to feel weaker.

Why did I do what I did next? I will never know the answer. Maybe I thought I had something to prove, or all the fresh air had made me gone slightly mad.

"I AM ANNABETH, A FREE SPIRIT, HOLDER OF KNOWLEDGE, MASTER OF OWLS, READER OF LANGUAGES. I PLEDGE MY ALLEGIANCE TO MY FREEDOM, AND THE FREEDOM OF OTHERS. ACCEPT ME AS I AM, AND TAKE ME INTO YOUR WAYS."

I closed my eyes after that and leaned over the edge of the cliff, spreading my wings halfway down. I flew back up, into the clouds, and landed smoothly in front of the group.

There was Seaweed Brain with gorgeous shifting sea-green angel wings, arched and shortish, standing next to a short Latino boy with grease all over him and wearing an oversized tool belt, with short and round leathery dragon wings, changing from a simmering red to a flickering orange and back again. Next to the Latino was a pretty Native American girl, with long brown hair and pretty pink angel wings, tall and elegant and shifting hues as I looked at them, next to her was a tall guy with blonde hair and blue eyes, long grey feathered wings with flashes of light constantly. Towering over him with broad shoulders and visible muscles was a guy with black, military style hair and ridiculously small angel wings, unfairly proportioned with the rest of him, however those wings looked pretty buff too, in their pulsing red pattern. Hovering stiffly beside him was a very short girl, with dark skin and frizzy black hair, stormy black leathery wings almost as big as her hanging at her sides. On her other side was a pale, scrawny boy, with black hair and bat-like black wings, except his were long instead of tall. Standing a little away from the scrawny guy were two more girls, one with a boyish cut and silvery dragon wings, the other with long black hair, a regal air and purple bat wings. There was one last guy hovering at the end, blinding yellow wings behind a blonde surfer guy, smiling brightly at me.

"Well, you've surprised us with reciting the pledge and all. Looks like you're one of us, now." Latino said, before he was silenced by a glare from Regal Purple.

"Yes. Welcome to the Heroes of Olympus as we like to call ourselves. We all had or have hovering issues, and wing colour issues, and we are more than just a support group. We are a family and a military, as I'm sure you will hear when we get back. Names, right. I'll go left to right, code then real. Seaweed Brain, Percy, Repair Boy-"

"Bad Boy Supreme Super-Sized McShizzle!"

"As I was saying, _Repair Boy,_ Leo, Beauty Queen, Piper, Sparky, Jason, Klutz, Frank, Witch Girl, Hazel, Death Breath or Ghost King, Nico, Pinecone Face, Thalia, me, RARA, Reyna and Doc, Willl. We'll take you back and you can chose weapons, nickname, rank, cabin, et cetera, and get caught up on what's actually going on. Oh look, your wings have stabilised. Colour-wise, I mean."

I turn to look back and my leathery wings have gone grey, like my eyes, but changing, forming shapes and taking them away.

"They're beautiful," I breathed, and then turned to my new family.

"So I'm a Hero now?"

 **{AN: Hey guys! Hope you like this chapter, and I'm upping the word count for each chapter, so this one is 2000 words. Let me know any ideas/requests, and if you want me to update quicker/more often, and I'll do it. Also reviews = quicker uploads. Good bye my cutie-kats! ~myaw (PS. What do you think of calling you guys cutie-kats?)}**


	3. Aboard the Argo II

"Yes, Annabeth, welcome to the Heroes of Olympus. Okay guys, anyone volunteering to be her mentor?" Reyna said, first looking at me and then the others. Percy stepped forward after it was clear nobody else was going to. I smiled shyly at him, but he simply shrugged and turned to Reyna in turn.

"Where do you want me to take her next?"

"Show her around, and then get her settled in." RARA replied simply.

"Come on then, let's get going." He started jogging away from me, and then started flapping his wings slowly, picking up speed until he was sprinting, his wings a blur and then he was airborne, hovering to wait for me. Surely, this was another initiation test, and I didn't want to fail when I had only just begun.

I started jogging, relishing the feel of the wind and the rhythmic thumping of my feet, and suddenly I was airborne, not even breaking a sweat. I angled myself forwards and soared up to Percy, my wings easily catching the drifts of winds and using them to my advantage.

"Hm, you seem like a natural flier. We'll soon see, though." He said gruffly, flapping his wings and disappearing in a flurry of feathers. I waited until I had stopped flapping desperately to right myself, and zoomed after him, picking up speed as I neared him. He looked behind, obviously not expecting me to be so close, because his wings missed a beat and he started plummeting. I quickly tried to grab something of his, and then I started falling too, his weight being too much for my wings to keep us both aloft. Try as I might, I couldn't gain altitude, and we were nearing the ground. My hand was in a death grip- I couldn't let go of him, and we were two metres from the ground when-

 _SPLASH!_

We landed in water, uninjured, as the water slowly dispersed and was absorbed into the ground. We caught our breath and then got up, and I tried to wring the water out of my shirt, but to no avail.

"Backstory- you were showing off and started falling in the canyon. I tried to stop you, but you were flailing too much and we both fell in."

"No," I said, crossing my arms over my chest in a feeble attempt to sound decisive. "We say what actually happened. I am not looking like a prissy idiot on my first day."

"Well, you're gonna have to." By this point I was semi-dry and he was almost dry.

"No, I'm not."

Yes, you are."

"We're wasting time. If someone asks, I'll come up with a backstory."

"Fine, but if you stuff up, it's on your head. We better get heading, or people will start wondering."

I flapped my wings and made my way into the atmosphere, leaving Percy to do his run-up. He took the lead and we flew up in silence, the occasional word muttered when a wind took one of us off guard. We eventually reached a ship, floating mid-air, with a mechanical dragon as the masthead, battering ram at the front, ballistae and crossbows on deck, ten metres wide and sixty metres long.

We flew up on deck and he gave me a quick demo of how each thing worked, and how Leo controlled the ship. I spotted Nico flying up to the top of the eighteen metre mast, which was positioned by a twelve metre mast.

"Wii controllers? Really?"

"Works just as well." He replied, shrugging as we made our way downstairs. He showed me the galley, where some girls were preparing vegetables, making them appear to grow out of nowhere. The mess hall, were Leo and some other kids also covered in grease were talking and fiddling with metal and wires absentmindedly. Cabins, where there was obviously a stereotype for each, but they were all mixed up and I couldn't see any pattern except friend groups. We went down one more level and he showed me the sickbay, where there were a few kids with blood, bandages, wounds and one big buff guy with his finger caught in a clamp, more kids with blonde hair and suntanned skin moving around, obviously healing them, the armoury/storeroom, full of supplies, engine room, with more grease-laden kids were doing who knows what, and the arena/rec area, where there were kids doing things from growing plants to fighting to archery to drinking and eating, building things, sleeping, talking and even twins pinching everyone's stuff.

He declared we had finished the tour and that I had yet to get 'settled in', though he claimed he knew exactly where I went and what I needed to be. He disappeared soon after, leaving me to fend for myself in a room full of people who I didn't know. I shuffled over to a guy in the corner, bent over something and occasionally looking up and chewing.

"Hey," I said, giving a small wave and stepping into his field of vision. "I'm Annabeth, new here."

"Oh hey!" he said, turning around with a mouth full of something red "I'm Grover!" Well, I assumed it would have been Grover, but with a mouthful of something it came out sounding like "I'm Grother!"

"What are you eating?" I queried, ever on the lookout for knowledge.

"Oh, um, thith? Oh, it'th jutht thith tablecloth." He said, holding up a red checked cloth with bite marks all over it.

"Oh," I said, lost for words. "Is it good?"

"Yeah, betht quality you'll get on the Argo II."

I nodded serenely, acting completely normal about the whole thing. Maybe that's what they do here? I took a good look at Grover, he had a reggae beanie over a mess of curly brown hair, a goatee, and pimples all over his face, along with green wings looking like they were made out of leaves.

"Can I try?" I asked, and he handed me a piece of tablecloth, looking genuinely surprised, yet happy at the same time. I gingerly took a bite, well, _tried_ to take a bite, but I couldn't use my teeth to separate it.

"Annabeth!" A sweet, feminine voice called behind me, and I turned around, face going red with embarrassment and still a piece of checked cloth in my mouth. I hastily took the cloth out of my mouth and hid it behind my back, smiling bashfully.

"Yeah?"

"It's time for breakfast, and then your initiation ceremony and stuff." The girl I recognized as Hazel said, ignoring my embarrassment.

"Lead the way!"

We fell in step as she led me through the hallways and upstairs, entering the dining hall. It was quite noisy, and I spotted groups of people clustering around round tables, some even sitting on the tables, on other's laps and sharing seats. Hazel expertly navigated her way through the crowd, wings spreading to make a tunnel for us to go through. My wings, on the other hand, were jumpy and twitching, senses on red alert in a room full of people on a flying ship with weapons all over. We ended up in a line up for food, a cafeteria line, like the ones I had read about in books. We got trays and were served food, all sorts of things I had never experienced before.

She then lead me over to a table, where everyone I had met earlier was seated, Piper sitting on Jason's lap, Reyna sitting on the edge of the table and talking to Thalia, Percy in a conversation with Will, Leo sitting back-to-back with Calypso in the middle of the table, Nico attempting to hide in the background, not doing too good of a job with Frank talking in a deep, attention-seeking voice to him. Hazel grabbed my hand and dragged me over to where Percy was, squishing us in between Will and Percy, then flitting away and reappearing with Nico, who was forced to sit between Will and Hazel, which he didn't look totally down about. Hazel moved after a few minutes of silence and sat on the table top, next to Leo, striking up a conversation. I crossed my legs and sat down, putting my meal on my lap since the nearest spot on the table would be in between Hazel's legs. I started eating, savouring the flavour of everything on my plate as they slowly disappeared into my digestive system. As I finished my meal, I rested my fork and knife on my plate as I was taught, and looked over to Hazel, Calypso and Leo.

Oh. Hazel was astride Leo, tickling him everywhere and Leo screamed mercy, Calypso standing over them both with a bemused expression on her face. Most of the conversation at our table had stopped as everyone watched the wrestling match. Will was absent-mindedly humming music, and I went to talk to him but-oh. I noticed he had headphones in, no conversations over there. Frank was up and standing by the wall, practicing what looked to be-oh, battle moves. I turned my head to Nico, who was seated beside- oh. Nico had disappeared, leaving no sign he was ever there except from a few crumbs of something on the floor and a gap between Will and I. Thalia and Reyna were still debating on whether a sword or bow was a better weapon. Jason and Piper had disappeared, and it wasn't until I heard some scuffling under the table and I peered down to see-Oh. Okay. The two were in the middle of a make-out session, and that was enough to make me lose my appetite. The only person left and available to talk to was Percy, and I turned to see him looking at me with some kind of look on his face I couldn't quite discern, but it was quickly replaced by a mask of neutrality.

"Showing off, are we?" he said, looking at me with those eyes that made me just want to lie down and listen to the sound of the waves...

"What?" I replied, probably sounding panicked, looking at my plate. Had I been eating too quickly? Too slowly? Not right? Did I have something on my face? Was my hair doing something unpreceded? I checked all of these things swiftly, finding no issue with any of them.

After I had finished my hasty check-over session, Percy finally pointed to my legs. They were still crossed, and there was nothing on them, apart from pandas, I hadn't made a mess on the- Oh. I was hovering a good thirty centimetres off the ground, and had been for the entire duration of my meal.

"I-I hadn't really known, I mean, I didn't know… I thought… no, I wasn't thinking, I was just… uh-"

"Save it, I get the point. You're definitely cut out for either command or long missions." He said, which is the closest I had gotten to praise with him. I realised that at my house, he was a lot kinder and gentler than he had been around everyone else- I had to look deeper into that. Might be social anxiety, or something more.

"What are those?" **{AN: I had to!}** I asked, referring to the command and long missions.

"Just wait, you'll find out about… everything soon enough." He said cryptically, and broke off the conversation by walking over to Reyna.

The second he left I feel to the floor with a rather loud 'Oof' on my behalf. I tried not to look under the table as I righted myself and instantly I was hovering again, and I came to a new revelation- I hadn't been hovering since I had got here, unless I had wanted to. As I was about to ask Hazel where to put my plates, Reyna stood on our table and started yelling.

"LEGION! ATTENTION! I-" She was cut off by the loud voices of the twins yelling in sync; **{AN: Sorry for interrupting the story so much, but my twin friends will yell at me if I don't let you know this isn't magic, it's just spending your whole life living with someone who you do everything with, also they have the same response/answer. This is for you, Celestialite and NamesAreFutile !}**

"WE ARE _NOT_ A LEIGON!"

"YES, YES! Anyway, now that I have everyone's attention, we are going to have a campfire down in the Rec Area. Leo, can you please handle the fire?"

To which there was a rather long reply from the boy "If only- hahahaha Hazel hah- stops!"

Reyna sent a death glare Hazel's way, but before she could look Nico appeared in the middle of the line of fire, looking bewildered, then getting a quick grasp on the situation he had appeared into and simultaneously blushing furiously and sending a death glare outdoing Reyna's by a thousand-fold, made slightly less intimidating by the redness on his normally pale cheeks but still terrifying. There was a silent but tangible war between them as the tension in the room rose. Nico and Reyna started flapping closer to each other, both of them rattling their leather and making faces that supposedly meant something that they could understand. I realised they were legitimately nose-to-nose, and I could actually _see_ the war, Nico's line was black and Reyna's was a royal purple, and it was going forward and backward as the argument went back and forth. Their faces eventually got less angry, and the argument-line between them simultaneously combusted, leaving them in a silent nodded agreement. Will came over as soon as Reyna looked away, muttering soothing things to Nico who looked a little distressed.

"Right, everyone be down there in five minutes," Reyna peered under the table and everyone else did too, seeing the ignorance of the couple. "THAT INCLUDES YOU TWO TOO!" Reyna screamed with an apparent anger and unnatural projection, with an undertone of something like jealousy or heart-break, a flash of red quickly appearing and disappearing. They broke apart immediately, and like the rest of us, clutched their ears. That was some unnatural shouting, but it got everyone's attention and they were all rushing out of there like water out of a holey bucket.

I walked over to Reyna, who was quietly and urgently talking with none other than Seaweed Brain.

"Reyna?" I asked, feeling like a child asking my parents something

She turned away from Percy quickly, intensely denying there was anything going on. "Yes, Annabeth?"

"Um, is there anywhere I can get clothes? I'm still in my pyjamas." I said, looking abashedly at my purple panda pyjamas, fuzzy long pants and a t-shirt with 'Beauty Sleeping' and a sleeping panda on it.

"You shall have some after the ceremony, when you'll know everything."

"Uh-huh." I said, not convinced, but Reyna had already shut me down and talking with Percy again, so I wandered successfully down to the Rec room, where Leo was stoking a fire with his hands, Calypso looking on with awe in her eyes, at the fire or Repair Boy I wasn't sure. I took a seat beside Calypso, smiling at her before watching the fire with awe in _my_ eyes. It danced, changing constantly like Leo's wings, making pictures, orange like nothing I'd ever seen before. I watched the fire for a few more minutes, until Calypso gently touched my shoulder and broke me out of my stupor, guiding me to where Grover was sitting, then turning and walking back to where what I was beginning to think as of the leaders here. They were all different, definitely, but they were all leaders in their own way. Eleven of them, standing in front of me, it finally felt something like home.

Reyna spoke first, getting everyone's attention. "Everyone, there is an initiate in our ranks today. Annabeth, would you step forward?"

I was deer-in-headlights as I stepped forward, keeping my back to everyone else and my face to the eleven.

"You are clearly cut out to be one of us. You have recited the pledge, and have proven your worth." Hazel said, smiling at me.

"Annabeth, kneel before us." Leo commanded, looking excited at the prospect of bossing someone around.

I knelt, bowing my head, watching the flames from under my eyelashes.

"I, Jason, hereby initiate you into the Heroes of Olympus. You have shown us great potential, and we wish to welcome you into our community."

"We have seen you in action, and have decided that you are a member of the Athena cabin, for your smarts, and ability to understand language." Piper said, and I looked up, beaming.

"Your weapon here defines what rank and style of fighting. Please, step forward and select yours." Thalia said, gesturing to Frank who noisily drops a bunch of weapons. I rise and walk over, looking at them. There is a sword, bow and quiver, spear, shield, gladius, hammer, trident, net, dart gun, throwing knives and ninja stars. I picked each up, the balance being off and not feeling right in my hand.

"Is there anything else?" I asked, after I had held everything in that pile.

"Well, there is one more thing…" Nico said cryptically, looking at Will who nodded and ran off.

He returned quickly, holding a dagger by the very tips like it was going to bite. He dropped it and stepped back, pressing his shoulder against Nico's, whose head was buried in Will, looking at me worriedly. I picked up the dagger and instantly felt its power, it belonged in my hand.

"This is the one." I said, and I picked up a strip of leather left in the pile and tied it around my waist, and I discovered it had the perfect sheath for my dagger, which I slipped in.

Percy stepped forward, a grave expression on his face. "That was Rachel's dagger, before her Octavian, before him Luke, before him Bianca. We consider it cursed, but if you chose it, we hope you break this curse." He said solemnly, dipping his head. "Now, let us take a moment to respect our flightless, the ones who have given all to keep us alive. This, Annabeth, will be your responsibility too, now." He said, bowing his head like everyone else in the room.

They all looked up after a moment, a tear shining in Seaweed Brain's eye.

Hazel stepped forward, and began to peak in a soft, eerie voice.

"We are different, yes, but that is nothing wrong. Everyone in this world is, so it doesn't make sense why they kill us. We used to be two ground-based operations, Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter, but they found us, the scientists, the murderers, and it was a slaughter. Hundreds of us fell that day, so Leo brought us this boat he had been working on and we all climbed aboard, who was left. It was the eleven of us who took charge, and we have been travelling ever since. That was two years ago. Our operation here is to protect our kind, the Sky-Soarers, as we call ourselves, from being killed. Thirteen, you are? If you had stayed one day later, you would have been taken. Your real parents are dead, the people you called your parents were merely holograms. Your house was one of many, raising the Sky-Soarers, to thirteen, and then they- they… they-" Hazel started shaking violently, and Frank came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, murmuring words of comfort and slowly walking them back, into the shadows.

Nico stepped forward, eyes glimmering from unshed tears. "They took us to a place, and they would slowly kill you. Not intentionally, unless you didn't perform, in which case you were dead by morning. There were tablets, courses, starvation, and dehydration, anything to see what made you stop flying. Days on end, flying, confinement, drowning, choking, crushing, anything and everything. If the Heroes got you before you died, your wings, they were never the same. Never, ever, ever harm your wings, it tears your soul. It kills you." He finished, stretching his wings wide. They were covered in scars, bruises, disfigured and maimed. He couldn't fly anymore, his wings simply would collapse.

He closed them, wincing as they hid themselves from view once more. "I nearly died. Glass jar, only my own wings keeping me alive. The pain was what got me through. I owe my lives to everyone here, and so do you. We all have stories, we have all been through that. You are the only one who hasn't. You were the trial, we had finally found the facilities where the Sky-Soarers were raised, like pigs for slaughter." He said with a dark finality, stepping back.

Percy's head tilted up as he began to speak, voice reminding me of waves crashing. I sunk slowly to the ground, but I didn't notice, the only thing I saw was him. "As Nico said, you were the test. We have figured out now how each house defences work, or at least ones like yours. The wall had signals, so when I broke in the robots were activated. There was a cupboard you were told never to open?" I nodded in response "That was where the droids were kept. The scientists are protecting the Sky-Soarers even more now, we had another operation at night but they failed. We lost contact with a member, Luke Castellan, but he was strong, we're hoping he'll come through. He'll be alright though, he has to." He sounded like he was convincing himself more than anyone else as his head dropped.

Will stepped forward next, wings fluttering with anxiety. "You can see things, can't you? Auras, when especially when someone has high feelings." I nodded, and told him what I could do. "Colours appear around you when you have extreme emotions. Now, Will, you have gold streaks toward Nico, accentuated with purple-grey, showing you're protective and worried about him. I think I can understand any language, including body, so be careful." I said, half-smiling.

"You see, we are sort of classed by abilities. I am light, music, healing, Nico is darkness and death, Percy is water." My wings fluttered briefly for no apparent reason.

"We have never had anyone like this. Like you. But, luckily enough, nobody sleeps in their cabin anyway. We all sleep in our friend groups, so you'll be alright."

Reyna beat her wings and moved forward, toes touching the ground. "I would like to invite you to join the Leaders, Annabeth. We need brains and understanding, and you seem to have both. Do you accept?"

"Yes. We are the Twelve Olympians now." I declared, flitting over the fire and landing beside Percy, my wings tips tingling.

Oh no, anyone, anyone but him.

 **{AN: Annnnnddd... cue cliffhanger! I hope this answered any questions. Any particular characters that want to be met, added, anything, I'll put them in. Quick shoutout to NoTearsFalling and pjolavera ! Thanks guys!** **Sorry, the first bit of this is sort of a filler, but the rest is hopefully alright. Also, I'm adding slight changes to Chapter Two, adding in Will and taking out Rachel. That's literally the only thing I changed. Also, shout-out to anyone who actually reads my ANs! Question Time! Any couple moments? Any ships are accepted, although Percy is sort of out of bounds with anyone but Annabeth. I'll put in any of them if you request it! Goodbye my cutie-kats!**

 **~myaw}**

 **~myaw}**


	4. Of Red Faces and Interrupted Races

There was some general notices and other stuff that I wasn't really paying attention to, and then the meeting was dismissed and Hazel took me under her wing. Literally, she put her wing over me and lead me away from the room, to who knows where, I couldn't see. She finally lifted her wing and I could see we were, and that was what I assumed to be their room.

It was quite large, closed in, and the Twelve were already there, in various different positions, except Percy, I noticed.

 _'Stop it, brain, seriously?'_

The room was decorated with posters, paint, spoils of war, souvenirs, photos, paintings, scribblings, and even a mirror with all sorts of drawings and such on it. There was a couch, or what I assumed used to be a couch, covered in clothes, lolly wrappers and who knows what else. The floor was much the same, I could see the occasional wood flooring but apart from that it was mostly sleeping bags, clothes, weapons, you get the idea.

"Well, welcome to our cabin. I thought you'd like to crash with us, you know, because, but if you don't want to, never mind, uh, so, do you wanna live here?" she asked, wings tinging pink at her embarrassment.

"It'd be an honour." I replied, smiling warmly and setting my dagger down on the arm of the couch, Piper rushing over to clear the stuff away.

"Sorry, we're a little messy in here, just put your stuff where you can find it and if you want to change, you're welcome to anything you can find."

"Except mine, stay away from mine," Reyna called, and as I looked to where her voice came from she was already back to talking with Thalia.

Piper stuck her tongue at Reyna's back, then started picking up clothes, wrinkling her nose at some and handing me the others. "Here, go get changed into these. The bathroom's near that set of drawers over there, if the door doesn't open someone's probably in there, so just wait until they come out. Calypso'll run and get you some toiletries and underwear and stuff. Won't you, Cal?" She said, turning to face the chestnut haired girl with a raised eyebrow, to which Calypso fluttered gracefully out of the room.

I gave my thanks and made my way over to the door, trying to not step on anything important-looking and succeeding. I tried to turn the door handle, but it got stuck on the drawers, so using my wing I shoved the drawer out of the way at the same time that I pushed the door open, causing me to lose my balance and fall face-first, my wings spreading out and somehow catching me before I fell to the white-tiled floor. I pushed myself up, dusting myself off, and came face-to-face with his green eyes. I lowered my gaze as I found his observing getting me flustered, and that's when I saw that he was shirtless, his bottom half wrapped in a towel. I could feel my face burning and I turned away to hide that small fact (and so I wouldn't stare at him. Come on, I had been locked up my whole life, how was I supposed to NOT stare at his toned chest). I felt a shove at my back and I toppled over again, only this time out of the bathroom. Needless to say, I didn't catch herself this time.

Lying on the floor, I was vaguely aware of the bathroom door closing.

"ANNABETH!" I jerked my head at the sudden noise and flapped my wings in alarm.

"Sorry for frightening you, that looked like a nasty fall. You okay?" Jason offered me a hand, which I readily accepted as he easily pulled me up from the floor, Percy's stomach muscles still flashing inside my eyelids as Jason picked up the clothes and stuffed them in my arms.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just startled." I said breathlessly, turning to face his baby-blue eyes.

"Don't worry, you're not the first and certainly not the last. Percy never locks the door, I've even walked in on his abs a few times too." He said, smiling knowingly which made me blush even more.

"Yeah, what's up with him anyway? Is he always this...?" I struggled to find the right word. "Socially inept?"

Jason laughed. "He's socially inept when? What does 'inept' even mean? Why-"

"You know what, never mind."

"Okay. Percy, you done yet bro?" Jason called, Percy emerging from the bathroom with a mask of perfect calmness as if nothing had happened. I tried to copy, but ended up looking meek and subservient, but it worked well enough as I entered and triple-checked the door was locked, and started looking at my clothing selection. I wanted to look- I had no clue. I picked out an orange shirt out with some ripped jeans, taking some high-top shoes, a cap and putting my holster back on, tucking the rest of my clothes in my arms as I opened the door, stepped out and looked about for Piper.

I heard squealing and I faced the noise, seeing Piper barrelling towards me, and accepted her hug as best I could.

"You look _amazing_."

"T-thanks!" I stutter, once again checking to see I hadn't been dramatically made-over. No, no such luck.

"So…. Do you like… puzzles?" Piper asked awkwardly after what seemed an eternity of frozen smiles, wincing at her own horrible attempt at ice-breaking.

"Uh, never tried one. The idea sounds really boring, though."

"Oh yeah, you haven't…. right. You're right, they are really boring, but we all have to endure because it's one of the few things Calypso likes."

"Cool," I said, looking at my feet and moving them about a little.

"You know what? Tonight's going to be Girl's Night In. We're going to kick the boys out of our cabin and have a sleepover." She said suddenly, a genuine smile forming on her pretty facial features. "Ooh, I can see it now! Everyone's lying down, chatting, a game of truth or dare, pyjamas, a movie… It's gonna be awesome! I'll let everyone know at lunch time, but for now, I introduce you to all our friends." She said, grabbing my hand and leaving me to stumble along as Piper speed-walked through the corridors with practiced ease.

We were wandering around for who knows how long, meeting what seemed to be thousands of new people. Names and faces were bouncing around like bingo balls, and I could barely match up names to faces. Beckendorf, Silena, Connor, Clarisse, Travis, Clovis, a pair of black wings, a deadly-looking spear, a cheeky smile flashing by. I looked at a watch I had picked up along the way, black leather straps fitting comfortably around my wrist. Twelve o'clock, which seemed about lunchtime, I reasoned as I made my way to the dining hall, only bumping into seven people and getting lost twice. I seated myself at a table, alone, wings fluttering nervously. Thalia sat down beside me, nodding regally before picking up a fork from her tray.

"Darn it," I muttered out loud, and Thalia looked up. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing, just forgot to get a meal. I'm still getting used to this whole thing, it's so big and overwhelming, there's so many people!"

"I know. To me, it seems really small, but then again I know everyone and I've been in with many more people."

"Oh. Yeah, I feel really pampered and new compared to all of you guys. Like I've grown up wrapped in cotton wool or something."

"No, don't worry about it. We all grew up that way, it's just soon after the cotton wool was exchanged for poisonous daggers, only some of us got out alive."

"Wow, yeah." That's all I could say in response, and I realised I was hovering uncontrollably again.

"Excuse me one moment." I said, and grabbed my hands either side of the stool and forced my butt onto it, only I realised a few moments too late that the floor was going farther away and that I was rising, hands still clamped on my chair as I rose above the mess hall. One by one, every head in there turned to face me and my rising stunt, causing me to blush furiously. I was saved from further humiliation by Thalia, who flew up and grabbed the stool and my hand, flapping hard to ground me. I planted my feet on the ground and tried to recreate my 'invisible chair stunt' of breakfast, but ended up in a pile on the floor instead. As a last resort, I hovered, upright beside the table, still the main attraction of many.

"Hey, don't you guys have anything better to do?" Thalia crowed, and the crowd turned their heads back to conversations immediately.

"Idiots," she muttered, placing a tray of pizza in front of me. "Sit on the stool, and I'll tell you a story to ground you. It works for me, so here goes." I followed her instructions and she got into a trance almost, focusing on something over my left shoulder.

"There was once a little girl in a normal house, with the ability to fly as she pleased. Her parents didn't care about her, but whenever she tried to run away, the doors would lock and she would be forced into her room by robot droids, kicking and screaming. She tried every escape route she could think of, windows, skylights, underground, through the ceiling, locked doors, you name it, she tried it. After she tried each escape, she would be forced into a smaller and smaller part of the house, until she was confined to her room.

She scratched the days on the walls, and days turned to months, months into years. She grew up, and then she reached her thirteenth birthday. I was always excited about my birthday, because it was the only day of difference in my calendar. I woke up that day, but I wasn't in my bed. I was lying on a bed of concrete, and as I tried to move the straps over my limbs constricted more than necessary, crushing me. I spent two days like that, screaming in pain, thrashing as much as I could, essentially crushing myself to death.

I was released then, and I got up to see I was in a glass room, two metres by two metres. Surrounding me was other glass rooms, nearest to me a girl, dark haired with dark purple wings, her glass container filled almost to the brim with water, head pressed against the roof, struggling immensely. I ran over to pound on the glass, and she merely looked over at me and smiled weakly, losing concentration as she went under, taking a while before resurfacing. I moved on to another side, where a skinny, scruffy boy was surrounded by flames, wrapped in a tight circle. He looked like he was choking, the only reason I could see him was because he was still hovering, inhaling the smoke, two lines below his eyes making the only clear paths on his body. I turned ninety degrees to see a suntanned, blonde boy, holding his eyes, wincing, still flying, in a room filled with light. He let go for a second, showing me red, bloodshot eyes and tears streaming down his face before covering them again. I rotated once more to meet the sight of a frizzy-haired, small girl, curled up in the centre of the room, hands over her ears. I could just hear a piercing noise, and as I pressed my ear up against her wall it got stronger.

Suddenly, the noise stopped, and the fire had gone out, and the water had disappeared, and the light had dimmed, and the walls disappeared, leaving everyone to congregate around me. 'What's your name?' Frizzy asked, 'Thalia,' I replied, and the rest offered their names and explained why they were here. 'Today's changeover day. We get out of our torture, force-fed, and a few hours of socialization before it's back to normal.' After Hazel said that, all the other Sky-Soarers came over, and we mostly sat in silence, leaning against each other, waiting. True to what Hazel said, a few hours later droids came and ushered us to a separate room, and we were strapped to chairs and forced to eat whatever, I couldn't tell. The droids took us back to the approximate areas of our glass rooms, the glass coming down from the ceiling. I knew I couldn't stand being alone for days, so I yelled out for everyone to take off their shirts. They all looked at me, so I took mine off and stuffed in under where the glass was separating Leo and I, everyone nodding in understanding and doing the same, the word spreading until everyone had bare backs and slightly open walls. That was a big mistake. Will's container started filling with water, and it leaked into my room, spilling across the floor. It didn't stop, water was knee-high everywhere. It just kept going. And going, and going, until everyone was having to hover with heads against the ceiling, water waist-high even then.

It got worse. The water was literally one centimetre from the ceiling, everyone was trying to breathe as much air as possible, when the rest of the tortures started. There was a blinding light from somewhere, and someone else's blood began to seep as everyone went under, bursts of sound and light and blood and screams everywhere. I opened my eyes and looked up to see little things poking out from my ceilings, and a millisecond too late I realised that water conducts electricity." She sat silent for a few seconds, and I could see the black starting to seep out of her wings before she collected herself.

"The room exploded and we all would have died if it wasn't for the people who came to rescue us, there were healers who made us better and took us to Camp, those who survived, anyway. And that's my story, with everything left in. The end."

I came back out of Thalia's past and into the present, realising I was sitting on the seat and the dining room had cleared out, bar a few still talking. She nodded at me, then got up and left, disappearing down a corridor that I forgot what it lead to.

I was left alone at the table for a few minutes, trying to process what I had just heard. Everyone has such incredible masks, and I only just caught a glimpse of Thalia's true form. She seemed lost in the story, reliving all those horrible memories.

"Hey Annabeth, what're you still doing in here?" I turned and faced Percy, a mischievous glint in his sea-green eyes. Seeing that glint reminded me of the Percy that I had first met, full of energy and fun instead of a robotic monotonous leader with no emotion whatsoever.

"Thalia just told me a story." The mood visibly dimmed, and Percy's shoulders slumped.

"Did she tell you that she got the worst of the electricity, and she can't fly either?"

"No, she didn't." I said, looking at my feet.

"Well, yeah. That's what happened. Now, let's get outta this depressing mood and have some fun!" he said loudly, causing the remaining stragglers to look over at Percy in surprise. He ducked, pulling my shirt to drag me down, causing me to fall to the floor and giggle a little.

"Come on!" he whispered, and started running away, down a hallway leading off the mess hall. I followed, trying to keep up with the athletic male, only ever catching a glimpse of his gorgeous, ever-shifting wings.

"Percy, wait up!" I called, raising a hand out as I started slowing down, panting rapidly. I heard a slam up ahead, a string off cuss words following as a dazed Seaweed Brain made his way in, rubbing his head as I breathlessly chuckled at his wincing face, starting to laugh harder as he looked bewilderedly at me.

"What? No seriously, please stop laughing. I'm really confused." That only caused more laughter from my party, until we were both leaning against each other, struggling to breathe and wiping tears from our eyes.

"So what- what was so funny?" he questioned, turning his head to face me.

"You," I stated bluntly, wiping the trails of wet down my face.

"Oh, okay. I see how it is." He said, turning around and facing the other direction. My face fell as I realised I had seriously offended him, and I went to put an arm on his shoulder.

"Look, Percy, I didn't mean-"

"HA! Got you!" he said, whipping around to face me.

"Percy, I am going to rip you limb from-HEY! Get back here, you!" I cried, seeing halfway through my sentence he started flying away. I followed suit, flapping my wings harder and harder as I banked hard left, catching sight of Percy flying up towards the ship's deck. I sped up as fast as I could, managing to grab his shoelace just before he flew out, whooping happily. There was a small tug-of-war as he tried to fly away, but his shoe came off as he went soaring into the sky, and I threw his shoe, frustrated, off the edge of the ship, waiting for him to come down again. He was sitting up the crow's nest for about twenty seconds before zooming down, whimpering quite loudly.

"What now, Seaweed Brain?"

"My foot's really cold. Hey, where's my shoe?" I looked innocently skyward and motioned my thumb starboard, when he looked at me with eyes greatly resembling a baby seal's.

" _Annabeth,"_ he whined, pouting "You're a meanie!"

"I know I am. Now, if you don't want to live the rest of your life with a cold foot, you're going to have to race me down, and if you win, you… umm…"

"Can make you do anything for a day."

"Half an hour."

"Twelve hours."

"Forty-five minutes."

"Thirteen hours?"

"Idiot, bartering is meant to go closer to the other until you meet a reasonable price. Final offer of three hours."

"Deal. Now we fly."

"Aren't we meant to shake first?" I asked

"Winner also gets a handshake. Ready, Steady, Go!" He yelled, diving over the edge.

"Hey! No fair!" I yelled indignantly, shaking my head before following suit, wind blowing my hair back as I plummeted through the air, wind making my eyes water. I looked around after a bit and couldn't see Percy, which was slightly concerning.

"Per-oof!" I exclaimed, the wind being taken out of me as a lump landed on my back, doubling my descent speed.

"PERCY GET OFF RIGHT NOW OR YOU'RE GOING TO KILL US BOTH!" I screamed, but Percy, or who I assumed was Percy, put their hand over my mouth. I screamed into their hand, we were going way too fast and I was going to die. I was going to die. I was dying, it was too late.

I closed my eyes tight as whoever it was lifted off my back, and I was paralysed in fear. My wings wouldn't, or couldn't open, and I was nearing my death. The impact of the ground never came, though, I hit a warm mass of body and we tumbled to the floor, the person underneath me groaning.

"Shhh, Annabeth. Get down and shut up." Percy's voice said, barely a whisper. I curled up under my wings, Percy doing the same beside me, and I willed my wings to be a dusty orange-brown, like the ground. It worked, miraculously, and I felt fine, not drained or anything like normal. We sat like that for what felt like days, I needed to pee, my left foot was going numb, I had a really bad itch on my back and I felt like sneezing.

After an infinity more, I heard the faintest rustling from Percy, I think he was looking outside with those sea-green eyes of his… 'Annabeth, not the time!' I mentally chided myself, waiting until I heard Percy's 'all clear'. I retracted my wings and stood up, walking over to him and noticing out of the corner out of my eye my wings returning to normal colour.

"What was that about?" I asked, then sneezing twice and itching my back, tongue unconsciously sticking out as I strained to reach the spot.

"Here, let me," He offered, standing behind me to itch the exact spot where my itch was, and I only just managed to stop myself shivering with ecstasy.

"Better?"

"Much, thanks." I replied, sighing in relief.

"You're really cute when you sneeze."

I was just about to open my mouth when Percy cut in.

"Did I really just say that out loud?" I nodded in response, and he groaned and face-palmed.

"Anyway, the reason that just happened was-" He was interrupted by his walkie-talkie crackling loudly.

"SEAWEED BRAIN COME IN THE TWELVE OLYMPIANS TO SEAWEED BRAIN PLEASE COME IN!"

"No need to yell, Leo. We're right here."

"YES THERE'S A NEED TO YELL! YOU WERE NOT RESPONDING FOR A DUCKING _HOUR_ , WE THOUGHT YOU HAD BEEN CAPTURED! HAZEL WAS IN TEARS, PERCY, _TEARS!_ What happened to you?"

"I was just showing Annabeth how good the invisibility feature was from a distance when I saw some scientist ships, so we both hit the ground and covered up, waiting until they were gone. You know how they are, Leo, always check over one area like five times."

"True. Fine, you're off the hook, but come back. In advance, you're in for it, I'd bring earplugs."

"Thanks, Leo. Seaweed Brain and Wise Girl out."

Percy clicked the off button and the faint background static cut off.

"So, we better get back up there, hey?"

"Yeah, let's get heading." I said a little resentfully, we had spent one full hour crouching in fear. I almost wanted to get us captured so we could get to know each other better without that ever happening again. And know each other's screams. No, bad idea.

I started flapping and instantly I was off the ground, and I ascended, slowly for a few metres, then waited for Percy. As usual, he was running his way off the ground, doing a one-eighty and increasing his altitude swiftly, coming level.

"You still owe me a race," he said, eyebrow quirking

"You're on, Seaweed Brain." I said, flashing him a smirk before giving my wings a powerful beat, sending me into the sky. I continued flapping my wings, determined to win. I could hear Percy's wings a beat behind mine, and I fluttered faster and faster, finally spying the tell-tale bronze hull of the Argo II. I heard his laboured breathing growing closer, and I put on a last burst of speed to get me over the edge, shouting a victory cry as Percy unceremoniously flopped on top of me.

"Get- off me, lump! Can't- breathe-!"

"A lump- am I?" he panted, before attacking my abdomen with his slender fingers. Unfortunately, I was extremely ticklish.

"STOP PERCY STOP PLEASE!" I squealed, before laughing loudly and writhing incessantly.

"What's the magic word?" he said, leaning close over my face.

"PLEASE?!"

"Nope, try again." He said, and I could feel his warm breath caress my nose

"PERCY IS THE BEST? PLEASE STOP!" I yowled, and he stopped, finally.

"Correct, Wise Girl. For the record, _I_ let you win."

I pushed his solid stomach and rolled the opposite way, toppling the raven-haired teen.

"Don't get too cocky now, Seaweed Brain, you owe me a handshake AND three hours of you doing whatever I want. I think I'll cash that in soon, you just wait-"

I was cut off by the sound of leather wings rattling and feathers rustling.

"Not interrupting anything, are we?" A cold voice inquired, and I instantly got up.

"S-sorry Reyna," I mumbled, wings going a pink-red and paying close attention to my shoes.

"Annabeth, I thought you were smarter than this. On the other hand, you're yet to have a walkie-talkie, but you, Percy, know better." I turned my head to face Percy, whose head was straight ahead, face an emotionless mask.

"I apologise Reyna, I lost track of time. I hope Leo has told you the circumstances?" She nodded stiffly in response, obviously Percy was very close to equal with the leader.

"We are moving tonight, far away from here. Leo, you've mapped where the houses are?" Leo nodded quickly, and stood up a little straighter at Percy speaking his name.

"Right, Reyna, what news did you have for us?"

"We have a large problem, as you know, Percy. Scientist's technology is advancing daily, and they are recruiting many more. Also, we have to travel at least a day away from our main Sky-Soarer keep, and every time we break in their defence gets a little stronger. We also have no clue where they are keeping the grown Sky-Soarers, and surely they have gained many from the new program. Based on all of this, we have decided, _without you,_ that we need a quest."

"What kind of quest?" I whispered to Percy, still a little confused.

"A bad one, Wise Girl. Very, very bad."

 **{AN: Helloo cutie-kats! Hope you enjoyed this quite different chapterm seriously, Percabeth, ominous quest and some back stories all in one! HUGE HUGE S/O / THANKS TO MY BAE NamesAreFutile! She is my beta and editor, love her to bits. Still waiting for couple ideas, guys, just state the ship and it will sail! Any story ideas, even just 'they should watch a movie' are highly appreciated! ALSO MASSIVE S/O TO NoTearsFalling, she is an amazing person and she's the best idea-tester/internet friend a fangirl could ask for! See you all next chapter!**

 **~myawfod**


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